Unchanging
by Serenade of Shadows
Summary: Jounouchi has lost a duel to Kaiba...again, but he doesn't care about the glory of defeating him. Just what will it take to win the love of his life since childhood back? Puppyshipping. Don't like, don't read.


SoS: Here it is, my first Yu-Gi-Oh fanfic! That means it's time for the traditional dialogue between me and a character. I choose...Seto.

Seto: *facepalm*

SoS: Guess he doesn't have much to say... Anyway, only for people who support Puppyshipping, so if you don't, it's not my fault if you hate it!

* * *

"Jounouchi, you unworthy pile of dirt! Maybe next time you should reconsider before taking on one of the top Duel Monsters players in the world!"

It was the way things always worked with Kaiba Seto; no one was ever good enough to take on that "number one" piece of work. That's not exactly the way I thought of him, though. Kaiba's over-inflated ego had him thinking that I was always back to challenge the "champion of Duel Monsters," with a so-called "feeble attempt to steal his title." But what was my real reason for making the trek to the building where Mr. Kaiba seemed to spend a good part of his life sitting around in? The true reason I continued to find myself at the doors of Kaiba Corporation of Domino City was not to claim a stupid title, trophy, or anything else material like that… No, the real reason… was for Kaiba himself.

The name's Jounouchi Katsuya, and I've been a bit of a fan of Kaiba's dueling, genius… and looks… for most of my life. Actually, it all began when we were about four years old, just starting preschool…

* * *

It was my first day of school, and being the sweet young child that I once was, I was actually pretty excited about it. The only worry that I had was being the new kid in town, the only one in my class who wouldn't already have a friend to play with. After I'd said good-bye to my mom, not without a few tears, of course, I went and found my way to the only table with open seats left in the room. Seated at this table was a somewhat pale-looking boy with dark brown hair in a style that was rare for the time and the deepest-shaded, most innocent-looking blue eyes I had ever seen in my four-year-old life. Not wanting to be rude, even though I was very shy, I took the seat to the left of the boy.

"H-hi," I stammered, slightly nervous about –hopefully– making my first friend in the new city. "My name's Katsuya. What's yours?"

The boy looked up from a drawing that I hadn't noticed before and met my gaze with a startled, yet pleased expression. "Seto," he said softly, smiling with what seemed like the same warmth that I felt. "It's really nice to meet you, Katsuya. I'm actually new to this city, and I didn't think it would be this easy to meet friends."

"You're new, too?" I questioned him, my young mind shocked at the idea that there could be two new kids in one class. "I just moved to Domino City last month with my parents and baby sister, and since we just started school today, you're my first friend here, Seto!"

"I moved here last week…" Seto murmured, looking back down at his drawing. "It's just me, my step dad, and my baby brother…"

"Oh. What are you drawing?"

"This?" Seto asked nervously, turning the page upside down. "It's nothing… Look, the teacher's starting to talk. We should listen to her."

"…are going to start our first project!" I heard the teacher say. I noticed Seto's eager reaction at the mention of 'project,' and wondered what was so exciting about making paper or something into something else, but when the teacher explained that our project was to find a partner and build what we thought would help us out in the world, my anticipation of this assignment skyrocketed.

Of course, I already knew who my partner would be.

"Seto," I whispered as the teacher finished explaining the details of the assignment (we'd have the whole week to work on it, and it absolutely needed to be in by the next Monday). "Do you have any ideas for this project? I was thinking it could be something to do with Duel Monsters! I mean, all we have to play the game with right now is tables and mats and plain stuff like that… What if we built something to make the game better?"

"That's exactly what I was thinking, Katsuya," Seto replied, his expression amused and impressed. Turning over the paper that he had drawn on, he confessed to me, "These are plans for a 'duel disc,' or a portable, virtual dueling system that creates holograms and simulates the entire dueling environment."

I stared blankly at the blueprints, occasionally taking a look back at Seto's face. Finally, I said, "Dude, we're four. How are we supposed to build something like that?! Aren't really, really smart people who have lots of computers and space to make these kind of things supposed to take care of that? I don't even know how to tie my shoes yet!"

A slightly dark smile appeared on Seto's face as he said, "My father is Kaiba Gozaburo, and I'm a little smarter than your average preschooler. Don't worry, Katsuya, I've got this covered."

---

We spent all of our time together for the rest of the week, working on the 'duel disc' project that Seto came up with. Our teacher was impressed, but she didn't believe that we built it ourselves, and had to check in with Gozaburo himself, who explained the situation to the confused woman. In the end, we got our A and ended up having a new product on the market. I had no credit for the invention; it all went to Seto, but I didn't really mind, he'd come up with the idea.

Our first great time, wasn't our last, though.

Over the years, Seto and I spent an increasing amount of time together, and our friendship began to grow into something much more than we ever thought it would be when we were kids. I knew I was falling in love with him, and I really didn't care who else knew it. Of course, there were other friends thrown into the mix that made things difficult: sweet little Yugi; tough guy Honda; evil, yet somehow attractive, Bakura; power-mad, super-hot Marik; gorgeous Mai; supportive and loving Anzu… Every new relationship that I formed seemed to take away from my bond with Seto, but each time I made sure that he knew I still loved him and only him.

It wasn't until we were sixteen years old that he broke it off with me, claiming that he "had a company to run" and just didn't have the time to keep me happy anymore; he didn't want to be the one to break my heart by not showing up to something important because of work. But he already had. Kaiba Seto had taken my heart, stomped on it, and thrown it out the window, and some part of me that was still attached to it fell hard, too.

* * *

Now there I was that night after my duel with Seto, crying in the arms of the best friends I've ever had –other than Seto, himself– Yugi and Honda, who, much to my spite, had been together for the last two years.

"That's right, Jounouchi," Kaiba laughed down at me from the duel arena. "Cry like the worthless, third-rate scum you are!"

Wounded and enraged by how different this man was from my Seto, I shouted at him, "How can five years have changed you this much?! Can't you see that I'm not crying for the damn game, Seto? I don't care about this stupid card game any more than I ever did! I… I just want you back…"

The dark blue eyes of the hateful man brightened slightly at the mention of our love. "Katsuya…" Seto said slowly, seeming to realize what he had done to me, to our relationship. He fell to his knees, the look on his face horrified, anguished. "Katsuya," he repeated, this time allowing a few tears to fall as he lowered his face into the palms of his hands. "I'm so sorry…"

I pulled myself out of the grip of Yugi and Honda and made my way toward Seto, the man I still loved with all of my heart after five years and everything he had done to me. When I reached his side, I lowered myself to his level, placed my hands on his shoulders, and said quietly, but firmly, "I love you, Kaiba Seto, and there is nothing, _nothing,_ that can ever change that."

He brought his gaze back up to mine, the same gentle, loving look I'd been given the day we first met. "I love you, too, Katsuya," he whispered before pressing his lips tenderly into my own, renewing our relationship, which would now be an unchanging love, a story that proves that no matter what, love will always live on.

* * *

Katsuya and Seto are back together and everyone's happy! I know it doesn't follow YGO at all, but I liked the idea of Seto being a super-smart child, XD. Comments and critiques are more than welcome!!! Meaning if you're gonna fave this, please comment...


End file.
